The Bridge

@fredley BETTER THAT THAN SOCIALISM YOU SOCIALIST

@fredley Ah, Capitolism.

Dan Rasmussen

@DavidStarkey Ah, I thought it had been a third rail. And yeah I can imagine results could vary greatly for -- biological reasons.. lol

fredley

@StrixVaria Medicine is one place where absolute socialism actually works really, really well.

9:09 PM

Well, folks, I think I have some preliminary notes for design of my haunted-house game. Thanks for the input.

@Lazers Just out of curiosity, what made you no longer Grumpy?

Also, buhhhhhhhhhhhh

user15026

@DavidStarkey Birthday cake.

My car insurance is due the day before my next paycheck comes in... T~T

@ShotgunNinja Ouch :(

user15026

9:19 PM

@ShotgunNinja oh yuck, bad timing is bad

Thank god for overdraft protection!

> "Then I'd wake up the next morning and see that I'd not only spent over a hundred dollars on digital hats, but failed my only objective by uncrating a bunch of junk."

Interviews with Free To Play "whales" (the few people who spend shittons of money, which pay for all the nonpayers)

@BenBrocka "whales"? Is that really the term?

@FAE yes

@AshleyNunn But that cake... is... a....

9:21 PM

@BenBrocka Huh. Do they explain the reasoning for that?

@fredley How is affordable health care a problem?

@FAE San Diego

user15026

@BenBrocka The psychology is frightening

@FAE I assume it's either related to whaling and/or it's related to the relatively large amount of money they spend, not sure how it originated, it's just what everyone uses

@FAE The term is taken from the Casino industry.

Tim Stone

9:24 PM

(as a term for a high roller)

Wherein, high rollers who lose a lot (or are percieved as throwing around enough money that they will eventually lose a lot), are referred to as 'Whales'.

Because the goal of a Casino manager is to hook said whales and 'reel them in'.

In Poker lingo, a "fish" is someone else at the table who is loose with their money and easy to win off of.

"Whale" seems to fit right in line with that.

@StrixVaria Right. And a Whale is a very big fish.

@LessPop_MoreFizz A whale is a mammal.

But I get the idea.

@StrixVaria People who are responsible for gambling slang are not inherently the smartest of populations.

Tim Stone

9:26 PM

Like that money guy from the Geico commercial, but more Shamu-ish.

@LessPop_MoreFizz I thought that's what the casino host/hostesses were for

@Krazer Under the employ of said manager.

@Krazer The goal of every casino employee is to get visitors to lose their money.

@StrixVaria citation needed

Even the people who bring you free alcohol. Because when you are drunk, you are more likely to keep spending.

9:27 PM

@AshleyNunn It's not really that unusual, the parallels to gambling are pretty clear. And they use lots of Dark Patterns in general to hide costs, encourage payment, make you advertise for them, etc

@StrixVaria Don't they water down the booze?

user15026

@BenBrocka Oh, I know it isn't, but I still hate it

@Krazer I don't go drinking at casinos, so my first-hand knowledge is lacking.

@Krazer Sometimes, but they generally don't have to.

@LessPop_MoreFizz Ooooh, okay, thanks! I was not previously familiar with this.

9:30 PM

Liquor is cheap, so long as you're playing and losing money.

@BenBrocka Sounds like Steam did what they should have, in the first story. Cut off his credit card.

@LessPop_MoreFizz that maybe true but the state'll probably be taking a big chunk of the profits, so I imagine they'll want to squeeze every last drop of profit that that can

@Krazer I think you underestimate the magnitude of the house edge in a casino.

New killzone has actual colors! (warning: camera recording a TV. Come on guys):

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@LessPop_MoreFizz You're probably right

9:34 PM

@BenBrocka Too unrealistic

@fbueckert They did it because they thought he stole a card or something though, not to save him from himself

@BenBrocka True, but that still highlights what they can do to prevent it.

If your spending habits get that out of control, there are safeguards in place to check yourself.

user15026

facepalm Can someone please, please, please tell my friends that just because there is a Google office like ten minute walk from my house, it doesn't mean that we get anything different than anyone else? (And that the weather data comes from weather stations, not some dude standing outside Google with a thermometer?)

user20683

@Ashley'sFriends All of you are dumbasses....every last one of you.

@AshleyNunn Seriously? Weather data doesn't come from an intern's full time mind-numbing job?

9:36 PM

@fbueckert Yeah, but they loooooove those people who can't help but spend insane amounts of money. One person with a "gambling" addiction can pay the server/support costs for dozens, hundreds or thousands of free-only users (apparently some people spend literally thousands on some games)

user20683

@AshleyNunn hmm, I wonder if you could convince them that Kalina is the one responsible for weather data...

@BenBrocka Which should tell you something about the business model.

If 1% of the customer base can uphold the entire model, doesn't that mean the model is inherently flawed?

user20683

@fbueckert no, it means they share a business model with liquor stores.

Also the trees swaying in the Killzone vid is pretty cool

Hope it'll be better gameplay than the previous entries, heard good things so far

Q: Is there a list of my owned psn games?

@WorldEngineer Liquor stores are supported by only 1% of their customers?

Lazers

9:38 PM

2

I bought some psn games before, some psp and psx games, and one vita game. But I'm not sure which ones since it has been a while and not all of them are stored on my memory card anymore. Does Sony provide a list of owned games somewhere? I'd like to have a list of all the psn games I have bought ...

psn

That's a physical product; unless 99% of their products are loss leaders, the math doesn't work.

@AshleyNunn does you town get Google Fiber? if so, that changes everything

user20683

@fbueckert okay, similar model, small precentage of addicts pay for large percentage of regular users

@WorldEngineer Not really.

There's still overhead and physical costs to account for.

There might a couple items on sale to bring people in, but there's no way 1% of the buyers can be supporting the entire store.

Mad Scientist

@WorldEngineer Alcohol is pretty mainstream, I doubt that addicts are the majority of sales

user20683

9:40 PM

I work near a college...my perceptions may be colored.

Here in Manitoba, alcohol is rather heavily regulated.

It gets hit with the vice tax pretty hard, too.

Casinos are a better example than Liquor stores.

A small percentage of addicts make up the majority of casino profits.

user20683

@LessPop_MoreFizz yeah

However, the business as a whole is designed, in large part, to turn ordinary users into addicts, or otherwise impair their judgment;

pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge

9:44 PM

It's also in part done because whales and other addicts are more comfortable throwing down all their money when surrounded by other people who they think are doing so.

It doesn't matter if 99 people in the casino are playing slots with the free 50 dollars of slot play they got for checking in to the hotel, so long as the 1 person who isn't doing so is going to lose 10 grand that night, (which they will), the business makes money.

user20683

@OrigamiRobot 100% but I have a B.S.

Liquor stores aren't nearly as parasitic as casinos in their business practices either. You don't really need to persuade alcoholics to buy stuff, they just do. I mean, you're still taking advantage of them, but you're not really doing anything beyond offering what they want to buy

user20683

yeah, they don't typically do discount sales on Colt 45

@WorldEngineer I guessed what fracking was. Having a B.S. doesn't matter on any of them.

user15026

@Krazer nooope.

9:47 PM

@OrigamiRobot lol, who implied that a B.S. makes you better at trivia quizzes?

1 min ago, by World Engineer

@OrigamiRobot 100% but I have a B.S.

@WorldEngineer, I'm disappointed in you.

You know as well as anyone that a B.S. doesn't mean shit except that you've sat in a college for four years and might have gained some valuable experience and insight along the way.

I've got all of a diploma!

No need to be elitist about your education; this only detracts more people from attempting to become self-educated if they don't have access to formal education.

Knowledge + Experience > Degrees.

user20683

College is knowledge + experience

user20683

9:50 PM

at least for me

user20683

I spent 9 years working my way through undergrad twice

I've met (and worked with) people with degrees. We had an intern with a networking degree from the Philippines. If anything, he should've been telling me what to do. What happened is that I couldn't let him into the server room for fear of him breaking something.

Fair enough, but let's not confuse the two. College provided you with the knowledge and experience you have now. But that isn't an exclusive relationship.

user20683

it isn't, I mentioned it because it's all stuff a B.S. should know

user20683

even one in Computer Science or Math

user20683

9:52 PM

which doesn't cover most of that stuff directly.

@WorldEngineer I didn't learn any of that from college.

user20683

@OrigamiRobot nor did I but I was into the hard sciences once upon a time.

The degree is only certification that you knew enough to satisfy the requirements of your institution in specific areas. It does not imply any requisite or attained knowledge other than that which is covered in the material which the student understands and internalizes.

@WorldEngineer So having a B.S. has nothing to do with it.

The only reason I'm pursuing completion of my B.S. at the moment is so that jobs which require it will hire me.

user20683

9:54 PM

for me it was that and tradition.

@OrigamiRobot The only one I didn't know was "fracking".

I've finished everything that I consider valuable at my school; all I have left are elective courses.

spugsley

HI PEOPLES!

I don't think I learned any of it in college.

@AshleyNunn You need better friends.

spugsley

9:55 PM

@ShotgunNinja that was like the last two years for me :p

@StrixVaria Same. I had heard it before, but it was in passing.

I didn't realize fracking was that unknown. :o

user15026

@Wipqozn This is not new knowledge to me

Only 20% of people knew that Nitrogen was the primary atmospheric gas.

Huh. I got them all.

That's a surprise.

I was not expecting that.

user15026

9:57 PM

woot, 100%

Woo 13/13 \o/ No degree here.

High five with the non-degree peoples!

high fives all around

@FAE If I had read more carefully, I could have just used context clues.

Fracking is a stupid word.

2

@StrixVaria It's short for...something.

9:59 PM

@fbueckert "Hydraulic fracturing", apparently

@FAE Sounds right.

user20683

Fracking has a long and illustrious history as a swear word on Battlestar Galactica.

@WorldEngineer I didn't think there was a "c" in their version

I am installing Firefall for some reason.

Stupid Patch Tuesday.

user20683

10:01 PM

@FAE in 1978 there was

@WorldEngineer ah okay

I like that Bing Desktop is in the Optional updates, but I'd appreciate it if it would stay away after I told it to hide that update.

10:20 PM

@FAE It's primarily a Northeastern/Midwestern US issue that hasn't gone fully national yet

@LessPop_MoreFizz Aaah, that makes sense

@FAE Yeah, Hydraulic Fracturing-> Hydrofracking -> Fracking.

That said, I'd expect that one to be more common knowledge among people that read newspapers than among people that are good at science, which are two groups that sadly don't always overlap

10:37 PM

@LessPop_MoreFizz I hate you. You know what you did.

@OrigamiRobot What did I do?

DON'T PLAY DUMB

I DON'T KNOW

3 hours ago, by LessPop_MoreFizz

Welp. Guess I can't talk about the next MMO I was looking forward to anymore. I am okay with this.

@OrigamiRobot Oh.

Like I said, I don't know what I did.

and now I am off to watch a weird cultlike group of people in matching white robes sing songs about THE SUN and HAPPINESS and THE SUN and FREEDOM and stuff.

Also I will probably drink a lot.

10:42 PM

@LessPop_MoreFizz You're worse than Steve Carlsberg.

@OrigamiRobot Listen man, there's no need to resort to that sort of language.

Sorry, you're right. I'm just really worked up.

@Krazer there you have it

@LessPop_MoreFizz Oh, there's no need to thank us. He'll be there all night, and then the next four years

@BenBrocka Starting Pikmin 2 now.

Q: Skyrim: Already given a job by Farkas?

@Wipqozn I must admit the gravatar isn't very readable at 16x16

I might want to fix it up a little or something.

Lazers

10:56 PM

0

What job I was given by Farkas? I went to Farkas to get work but he and other members there keep saying that I have been already given a job by Farkas. I don't know the name of that job and so I can't find it in journal.

skyrim

ah, the fated dead ringer nerf is coming

boo hiss.

Sterno

11:10 PM

I'm going to check out Night Vale and if you guys overhyped it I'm going to punch someone in the junk.

@Sterno Bring it on.

Sterno

Do robots have junk?

@Sterno I think you should name your NG+ Arqade name "JunkPuncher".

Nintendo being a bunch of assholes (again)

Fluttershy

@BenBrocka Link doesn't work for me.

11:16 PM

really? works here, link to SRK

polygon.com/2013/7/9/4508826/…

Not loading for me either.

@StrixVaria Same

I DEMAND A SUMMARY

@StrixVaria They made Evo pull SSBM from the championship.

Wat.

11:18 PM

Fans raised 90k for breast cancer research to put Smash Bros Melee at Evo, the biggest fighting game tournament in the US. Nintendo called and told Evo they couldn't stream Melee

saying they didn't have permission

also they did this less than a week before evo

One of my favorite Twitch streams, CosmoWright, was going to Evo just to play Melee.

I don't know why I always want to capitalize that

they probably think Cosmo's a filthy pirate too for those damn speedrun videros

11:20 PM

I thought Nintendo was cool :(

Fluttershy

@StrixVaria I have no idea what gave you that impression...

@StrixVaria It's in-line with their issues with Let's Plays too

They have issues with LPs?

@StrixVaria they content ID nintendo games on Youtube now to monetize them for themselves

Fluttershy

@StrixVaria Always have, but I think LPs are a protected medium due to user-created commentary or some such.

Or that.

Q: Does the shortcut in DR2:OTR persist across a new game?

11:23 PM

(they dont' seem to do this very WELL, my Kirby stream didn't get content ID'd, but they were rejected for monetization)

Lazers

11:35 PM

0

I just got the shortcut from the mall to Royal Flush Plaza in DR2:OTR. If I start a new game with this save, will I still know the shortcut? Or do I have to wait until that Survivor pops up and rescue her again? Sorry if this is easy, my google-fu was not working.

dead-rising-2

Powerlord

HL:2 is suddenly on sale for midweek steam sale?

Must mean HL:3 is about to come out!!!!1111

@Powerlord ah, damn. I was about to make that joke!

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

I can still do that.

user15026

Bah I walked all the way to the DMs house for D&D and they went out for the evening and forgot to tell us. :(

Powerlord

TortoiseGit, why do you think you need to reboot just to upgrade?

bah, I personally don't think it's particularly skillful for heavies to shoot randomly in the air and blink up spies trying to get across

people notice it anyway if you bump onto them as a non-blinking DR spy anyway, so that's the only part that makes the DR awesome

maybe the nerf will come with a cloak duration buff?

or a slightly more silent decloak?

One can dream right?

11:42 PM

HL2 is $2.49. That's 83% of $3. HALF LIFE 3 83% CONFIRMED

Tim Stone

Now, now...The sale ends at 4 p.m on Thursday, which is the fourth day of the workweek...It's all become clear. They're series-timeline jumping, HALF LIFE 4 CONFIRMED!

Brant

The prequel to HL2 was HL1. HL2 is only 1 short of HL3. HL2+HL1=HL3 confirmed

@Brant tsk. HL2 + HL1 = 2H 2L 3

Full Double Life Three Confirmed

Brant

A Full Life Consequences video game would be pretty cool.

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